Three Minutes on the River

Three hours of waiting came down to just three minutes.

I arrived at the river early in the morning, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the black bears that frequent the area during the salmon run.

The morning was quiet and the sun was just beginning to rise. I settled in and waited.

One hour passed.

Then two.

Then almost three.

Not a bear in sight.

And then, finally, a beautiful black bear emerged from the forest.

He slowly made his way down toward the river and stepped into the shallow water, searching for breakfast. I watched as he moved carefully through the river, looking for pink salmon and occasionally making an attempt to catch one.

The salmon run was only just beginning. The first pinks were starting to make their way into the river, but there still were not many fish around.

For the bear, that meant breakfast was proving a little harder to catch.

For about three incredible minutes, I watched him work his way through the water.

Then he seemed to decide it simply was not worth the effort.

Without catching a single salmon, he wandered out of the river and disappeared back into the forest almost as quietly as he had arrived.

At this point in the season, I do not think he was too concerned. There were still plenty of other natural foods available while he waited for the river to fill with salmon.

And just like that, it was over.

Three hours of waiting.

Three minutes with a bear.

I would do it all over again.

It was worth every second.